Familiarity of Six Nations at odds with Super Rugby’s willingness to experiment

While the southern hemisphere is geared up for a new-look club competition, the Six Nations has yet to take fire but round three promises much – England and France face their sternest tests yet and Wales might just run free

Having won their first two Six Nations matches, with Jonathan Joseph, above, scoring a hat-trick against Italy, England will face an injury-stricken Ireland at Twickenham.
Photograph: David Rogers/Getty Images

Familiarity of Six Nations at odds with Super Rugby’s willingness to experiment

While the southern hemisphere is geared up for a new-look club competition, the Six Nations has yet to take fire but round three promises much – England and France face their sternest tests yet and Wales might just run free

It would appear, after two rounds of the Six Nations, that the hemispheres are as far apart as ever. The northern players have carried on performing without a pause since September and find themselves on grounds as damp and cold as ever in the European February. Any talk of changing the Six Nations through expansion, promotion, relegation, bonus points, play-offs or repositioning the entire caravan in warmer months has disappeared like a wren in a Cornish gale.

Meanwhile, having had a good rest after the World Cup, the players of Super Rugby are about to launch their new expanded competition, complete with single franchises from Japan and Argentina – the Sunwolves and the Jaguares – and a sixth South African franchise, the Southern Kings. There will be 18 teams, divided into two groups, subdivided into four conferences and the language of conference winners and wild cards is more from the glossary of the NFL than the RFU.

The Six Nations comes with familiarity and tradition; Super Rugby comes flushed with youthfulness and a willingness to experiment. The one is stodge; the other is basketball. The Six Nations is rich; Super Rugby is chasing money like an auctioneer pulling bids off the wall.

The difference in moods is hard to ignore, although the truer comparison may be between European Professional Club Rugby and Super Rugby. EPCR has at least been through a reconfiguration, a restructuring along lines drawn by England and France. For continuity of purpose – to obey the demographics – it is orderly that French and English clubs exclusively occupy the last eight places in the Champions Cup. Out in front, that is, just like England and France in the Six Nations.

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Both have sterner tests ahead. England, after success on the road against Scotland and Italy, now have Ireland and Wales at Twickenham. It will be interesting to see if the return to the place of their World Cup ignominy throws fuel on the spirit of revival, ignited by the arrival and the style of Eddie Jones, or whether memories serve as a fire blanket.

The last quarter in Rome suggests England are more drawn to a sunlit future than haunted by their past. The indiscipline at the breakdown that they could not shake off was at least forgotten as they piled up the points. The little kick by Danny Care for the second of Jonathan Joseph’s three tries and the pass by Jamie George to Owen Farrell were delicate and artful, and in stark contrast to the defensive operation organised by Jones’s assistant Paul Gustard.

Italy had kept possession well in Paris in round one against a defence that was individually committed – nobody could ever accuse Guilhem Guirado of not selling himself in the tackle – but collectively stand-offish. The French like to usher and shuffle as a line, and Italy thanked them for the space and kept the ball.

England engaged and obliterated. Italy simply could not hang on to the ball against them. Rain caused the ball to squirt out of contact in the France‑Ireland game in Paris in round two, but it was England’s extreme lust for contact that forced the ball free in dry Rome. Presumably Gustard is not going to ask his tacklers to ease up against Ireland next.

Ireland are victims of a fire they started. They play a simple style, full of forwards as carriers or with Conor Murray keeping the ball in an imaginary box, tight against the touchlines. They go from side to side only through the diagonal kicks of Jonathan Sexton. They charge and they chase furiously and do so with utter devotion – but it is hurting them. It may be bad luck but, from their World Cup games against France and Argentina to their opening Six Nations encounters against Wales and France, they have been littering the field with medical staff and injured players.

Ireland are playing a game beyond their physical means and if they try to ram their way through England’s defence they will lose even more personnel. Joe Schmidt used to make subtle changes to his team’s approach on a game-by-game basis but has been consistently narrow for four games now. Perhaps his hand is forced by the injuries – the more he suffers the less easy it is to vary the style – but it’s a catch-22 situation that is stretching his match-day 23 to breaking point.

France now have to go on the road to Cardiff. They used to enjoy travelling there, perfectly willing to accept an invitation to free the shackles, in the knowledge that their forwards were inherently stronger and would provide a foundation that could tolerate a little folly elsewhere. Wales, though, now look to get the better of the breakdown and will thrive in the space won by such mastery and by France’s vegetarian collective defence.

If there is to be an outbreak of freedom at the pivotal point of the championship (and not just the last Saturday), it may well be in Cardiff. Wales are on the verge of release; France yearn to be sharp – or at least less blunt. The signs are not all set to disappoint: the roof will be shut and both teams have scored from quick ball from a scrum. Repeat: quick ball from a scrum. Channel one: Taulupe Faletau against Ireland and Maxime Médard against, hmm, Ireland. Is there something about Ireland’s defence? Or is it that improvisation off quick ball cannot be resisted?

Perhaps Scotland will show us in Rome. Their visit may be fraught with all the frustrations that go with the occasion being plunged yet again into a squabble over the wooden spoon, but they too stand on the verge of a change of pace and form – and luck. Expect Scotland to cut free at last.

So far, the Six Nations has been a little northern of soul. For the mercurial we may have to turn to the south. But oil flows too, and it has been applied to the cycles that must spin anew after each World Cup. Stand by, at the very least, for a wide range of contrasts in round three of the old immutable championship.